Eyewitness testimony reported Wednesday by Al Jazeera accused Israeli troops of massacring forcibly displaced women and children sheltering at a school in northern Gaza,
The Israeli soldiers came in and opened fire on them," one unidentified witness said. “They took all men, then entered classrooms and opened fire on a woman and all the children with her,” including “newborn children.”
“The Israeli soldiers executed those innocent families point-blank,” she added.
A man who arrived at the scene after the alleged mass murder told Al Jazeera that “we found dozens of dead bodies in the classrooms.”
“There is no sign of any missiles or shells,” he added. “All those who were in the buildings were executed from point-blank. The Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Many families came searching for their children. They found them all killed. They were all killed, executed at gunpoint.”
I admit that that comment was flippant, but you’ll note that I said “apparently” there. I admit that Ibrahim Biari’s death has still not been confirmed, although I’m also unaware of any strong evidence that he is still alive.
With that said, I do think that Israel’s claim is less difficult to believe. It wouldn’t be surprising that a specific person Israel wants dead would be among the many people killed in that bombing, whereas it would be surprising if Israeli soldiers executed a group of women and children, at least because doing that would be absolutely terrible for Israel’s international relations. Even countries which accept that civilians will be killed by bombing aren’t going to support deliberate murder.
I’m not saying it’s impossible. Soldiers do things like that sometimes. I am saying it’s unlikely enough that commondreams.org shouldn’t be publishing what is effectively still just a rumor.